There are many Christians today who will try to take Jesus away from us.
(It still amazes me that we are talking about Christian people involved in
this sort of stuff). So to all you Christians who don’t have room in
your heart for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people…I will
remind you of the story of the Pharisees…the upright religious leaders
of the day:

“While
Jesus was having dinner at Matthew’s house, many tax collectors and
“sinners” came and ate with him and his disciples. When the Pharisees
saw this, they asked his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with
tax collectors and ‘sinners’?” On hearing this, Jesus said,
“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. But go and learn
what this means: ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice.’ For I have not
come to call the righteous, but sinners.”- Matt 9:10-13

Oh and a reminder…we
are all sinners. You and me.“For all have sinned and fall short of the glory
of God,” - Romans 3:23

And remember
Jesus’ woe to the Pharisees:“Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees,
you hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You yourselves
do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.” –
Matthew 23:13

So because of
people like this, we have seen countless GLBT people who once loved the Lord
who now feel separated from God because of the voices drummed into their heads
by “Christians". Christians who send the message of hate and hopelessness:
“God hates you. You are going to hell. You can’t be gay, lesbian,
bisexual and transgender AND Christian at the same time. You're an abomination
to God.”etc.

Hmmm. A real
sweet bunch of folks, huh?
By telling us that we are going to hell...you are saying more about yourself than about us.

When Jesus was
asked by a mob to condemn a woman caught in the very act of adultery (John 8: 3-11) Jesus said, "He who is without
sin among you, may cast the first stone" and one by one...the
men starting from the oldest...disappeared. So before you decide to cast the
first stone at us....you better examine the lack of love in your heart. Some
people will say that the story is about the adulteress. But the story is also
about the judgmental majority who were ready to prove how she was such a sinful
person and execute punishment on her. Sound familiar? Jesus showed that their
sin of unforgiveness and lack of compassion was no different from her sin.
Jesus did not condemn her.

Ah...but you
say" Yea, but see, Jesus told her '...From now
on sin no more' and you GLBT people are still sinning."

Now
look at what you just did! The whole idea of "He
who is without sin among you, may cast the first stone" is
that Jesus is saying...STOP POINTING THE FINGER AT SOMEONE ELSE!And
there you go pointing the finger AGAIN at us...after hearing this story!

"Do
not judge lest you be judged. For in the way you judge, you will be judged;
and by your standard of measure, it will be measured to you. And why do you
look at the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log
that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take
the speck out of your eye,' and behold, the log is in your own eye? You hypocrite,
first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take
the speck out of your brother's eye." - Matthew 7:1-5

And
what will happen when you take the log out of your own eye? You will see the
humanity of all of us and realize that we are no different than you
and that it isn't about trying to take specks out of each other's eyes...but
about forgiveness, compassion and love for your brothers and sisters. You
see our salvation is between us and God. Not us, God and you.

Consider
Jesus' parable of the landowner. Some laborers complained because the landowner
treated all his workers equally by paying them all the same wage.
(Matthew 20: 1-16). The landowner said to them..."Is
it not lawful for me to do what I wish with what is my own? Or is your eye
envious because I am generous? Thus the last shall be first, and the first
last."

And because
of the silence of the church…we have suffered ridicule, condemnation
and verbal and physical bashing. There are thousands who have committed suicide
because of this message of hate and because of the fear of the church to stand
up and say, “No…God hates no one. God loves everyone and the salvation
of Jesus is open to all”. (John 3:16)
How is it that a Christian could tell someone that God hates them?
You may think God is backing you up…but He is not.

We are here
to say that Jesus is our King and Lord.
Now in the new millennium, I have come to believe that our presence has a
purpose in God’s plan. We are the thorn in the church’s side.
We are here to teach about Christ’s inclusive love that has no bounds.
Christ’s love and compassion is open to all, not just you and your friends.
In the past, the church has used the Bible to justify slaughtering Indians,
Black slavery, keeping women from having basic rights, the persecution of
the Jews, upholding racial segregation, pushing down Black rights, etc. It
wasn’t until a new generation realized that their elders in fact committed
sin by their lack of compassion and active persecution of their brothers and
sisters in the name of Christ, did things change. No wonder the world is cold
to Christianity.

It is Christians
who have turned off the world to Christ.

And of course
now they are trying to prevent us from having rights to live, love and even
to worship the Lord. Basic human rights.

“We
love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,”
yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother,
whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And he has given
us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.” –
1 John 4:19-21.

So I guess that means
you HAVE TO love us just like we HAVE TO love you.

You don’t think
we are your brothers and sisters? Oh yes we are!
Ahhh, but you think we are not saved because we haven’t “changed
our ways”…because we are still gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender.

OK…then
you tell me how people are saved?

Bingo. Yep you win. By
GRACE!"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that
not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Not of works, lest any man should boast."– Ephesians 2: 8,9
By grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Not by works.
Do you hear that? Works cannot save us.
There is nothing humanly possible that I can do that will save me.
Only by the grace of Jesus Christ are any of us saved.
So, we are saved whether you like it or not.

But you say…“Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead,
being alone.”- James 2:17
But our faith is alive. We follow the Lord’s great commandments that
Jesus gave us.“Master, which is the great commandment in the
law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart,
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou
shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the
law and the prophets.
- Matthew 22:36-40

But you
still think we are not saved because we are living in sin by still actively
being gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender.
We do not consider our orientation a sin. This is who we are. We do consider
some things like promiscuity or being lustful a sin. But
we are no more guilty of that than heterosexual Christians who battle those
same issues. Everyone lives in sin and you and I are guilty... yet Christ
has accepted us and is working with us on each of our issues through His grace
and forgiveness...this is the message of the gospel:

"But
God commendeth his love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us." - Romans 5:8

And we believe that though
we are gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender, we are still called to a moral
and ethical
life of integrity. A life worthy of the name of Jesus Christ.

But
many Christians think we are somehow more sinful than they are. On the "Sin
Scale"...homosexuality somehow rates up there in the top ten
"unpardonable sins", next to murder. (PS...all sin is pardonable:
"Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy
shall be forgiven men: but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven."-
Matthew 12:31.)

Perhaps your
sin is the sin of thinking you are better than us. You better look at the
Jesus parable of the Pharisee and the Publican."Two
men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee, and the other a tax-gatherer.
The Pharisee stood and was praying thus to himself, 'God, I thank Thee that
I am not like other people: swindlers, unjust, adulterers, or even like this
tax-gatherer. I fast twice a week; I pay tithes of all that I get.' But the
tax-gatherer, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his
eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me,
the sinner!" I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather
than the other; for everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, but he who
humbles himself shall be exalted."-Luke 18: 10-14

Yes, Jesus never
said anything about homosexuality. But He said much about people judging each
other, thinking they are better than others and yes He was angry...but He
was angry at the Pharisees, Sadducees and Scribes...who did everything correctly,
who lived perfect religious lives...but couldn't have love and compassion
in their hearts for anyone but themselves.

"Above
all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude
of sins."- 1 Peter 4:8

We are Christians who
love our Lord Jesus Christ. We are your brothers and sisters.
In the words of Jesus…“for whoever is not
against us is for us” - Mark 9:40
We’re all in it together.
Our mission is to spread the word of God to all. The message of love, compassion,
forgiveness and salvation offered only through Jesus Christ to all people.